I Don't Like Riku
by Kirei L
Summary: Sora thinks Riku is a jerk. Honestly.


**_I (Don't) Like Riku_**  
**series:** Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II  
**warnings:** boys love, Sora/Riku, humor, cuteness, takes place after KH2 but **contains no real spoilers**  
**notes:** For Court. I tried to make the actual writing similar to that of Sora's personality- jumbled, emotional, easily distracted, heh.

Riku is a jerk.

Sora's known him for fifteen years, one hundred eighty months, seven hundred twe- wait, who cares! Long enough to know he's a jerk, that's what _really_ counts! And since this lifelong experience dictates being an expert on all things Riku, and thereby exasperating, Sora feels he has the proper qualifications in certifying that _said_ Riku, is _said_ jerk.

So that's exactly what he does.

"Riku! You jerk!"

Yea! Now don't cry, don't cry, _don't cry_...

Aw, _crap_.

And while Riku's expression is stunned, it isn't _quite_ stunned enough. So Sora gives him the finger, because Cid never was a good influence on _anyone_, and wishes he really _had_ paidcloser attention to some of the more colorful expletives he'd witnessed, since this occasion definitely calls for some razzmatazz.

But given that Sora's _truly_ qualified only for rescuing princesses and saving worlds- oh, and knowing that Riku is a jerk- he settles for kicking Riku in the shin before sprinting off down the beach.

Sora never was the most eloquent of their little group, or the most articulate. He supposes it's fitting that at the most inopportune moment it dawns he _had_ been more aware of Cid's flagrancy in the face of normal speech.

"Jackass!"

But Riku's now a fifteen minute row across the islands, and a screeching gull is the only victim to the vulgarity of Sora's ire.

----------

Riku finds him hours later sulking beneath a palm tree on the mainland, hopelessly trying to blend into the surroundings until dusk falls. The gait is immediately recognizable. Sora thinks Riku will never stride as a normal person does, but that's alright since none of them are so normal.

He suddenly wishes he were anyone else, someone more worldly like Riku- not so much Riku because he's still a jerk- but possibly someone like Leon would know what to do or say in a situation like this. Well, maybe not _say_.

All Sora knows is that he feels a foot tall engulfed in Riku's looming shadow, and that measurement is likely to decrease the moment Riku opens his mouth.

"I thought you liked Kairi."

Unfortunately, Sora is still Sora, and not Leon, so he blurts, "I do like Kairi!" quite literally, staring at a spot of earth between Riku's sneakers.

He can practically hear Riku rolling his eyes. It's a Riku thing. Because _he's a jerk_.

"I mean, _like_ like, you know?" he snorts.

Sora wonders if Kairi will get upset when he dropkicks their cohort. Several times.

"I know!"

Then Sora flinches because this really isn't getting them anywhere, at least anywhere he wants to be, and he knows his anger really is misdirected. Though, perhaps a little warranted.

Riku is a jerk, after all.

"I know," he says more hushed, wanting to sink into the ground until he hits rock bottom. The silhouette engulfing him shifts, but Sora doesn't shrink away as they sit side to side, Riku's body warm and solid.

Riku is a lot of things, yet he's still Sora's best friend no matter what, and Sora knows that nothing he could ever do would mess that up. He feels a little guilty knowing that, for the past few hours, he's imagined Riku never speaking to him again, as well as many other nasty things that really cheapened Riku as a person.

"It's just..." he trails off, since Sora really isn't sure _just_ what. He knows what he feels and what he did, but he's pretty sure that _isn't_ what he's supposed to feel and do.

Things were much easier when it was 'find the evil guy and get'em.'

"That's," Sora feels the spike of aggravation anew, "that's just the way it is, OK!" He crosses his arms, chin rising in challenge as he turns to stare-down the other teen.

"I _like_ like you- even when you're a jerk!" Perhaps, sometimes, _especially_ when Riku is a jerk.

Riku smirks, but it's soft and lacking superiority. What little of his eyes Sora can fathom look fond, and he's momentarily distracted by the notion of taking scissors to silvery hair while Riku sleeps.

"I'm sorry I laughed at you," Riku's saying, and it takes effort for Sora to focus on the here and now. Those scissors were so shiny.

"At first I thought you were being your usual mushy self," here Riku's grin flashes a little white, "then I realized you were serious. I was shocked; probably a little nervous."

"A little?" Sora echoes suspiciously.

"Only a little," Riku chuckles, because any more than a little just wouldn't be Riku.

"So you don't hate me," Sora notes, not quite sure if he's asking or telling. Riku gives him a patented _you're-so-stupid_ look, and Sora can feel warm heat infuse into his face.

"Ah, yea, what I meant is," he meant everything, but perhaps he shouldn't have _said_ everything, "we're alright then?"

Riku smiles just enough to dimple his cheeks, and Sora realizes _that_ was probably a stupid question, too, but at least Riku's being polite enough not to point it out. Sora grins in return anyway, forgetting about plowing his shoe straight through Riku's attractive features.

He was really worried about nothing, he thinks. Even if things between him and Riku don't change for the better, Sora knows they'll never change for the worse.

They lean against the palm base, the air around them considerably less heavy, and watch the sun seep behind Destiny Islands' horizon. Sora is just getting a taste for a scoop of Sunset Sherbet when he simultaneously feels bare fingers curl around his own, and his heart lodging into his throat.

He peers through the waning daylight down to their hands, Riku's larger span pressing his palm into cooling sand.

"I _like_ like you, too."

The red in Sora's complexion is a match for the disappearing sun, and well, maybe Riku isn't such a jerk, really.

Only sometimes.

"But you kiss terrible."

Only most of the time.


End file.
